PODCAST SHOWNOTES

Welcome to the Six Figure Personal Stylist Podcast, the ultimate no-BS business podcast for ambitious personal stylists ready to build a six-figure and beyond personal styling business.

You won't hear the typical snoozefest business advice that most personal stylists get told all of the time. Nope. Instead, I'll be sharing business-building strategies that will help you create a killer personal brand, a cult following of loyal personal styling clients, and make a ton of cash while creating lasting style transformations for your clients.

I'm Nicole Otchy, your host and a former personal stylist of 14 years who built a lucrative styling business in three major cities, but only after spending years trying to crack the six-figure styling business code without burning out. And now I'm here to tell you how to do exactly the same. Let's get into it.

Welcome back to the podcast. It is a big one today, it is the one-year anniversary of this podcast, which feels kind of strange because I feel like I’ve been doing this forever, but it’s only been a year.

April has always been my official business anniversary, which means the business is also two. Also strange, because it feels like it’s been a second and also a decade, which is kind of how I feel about all of the most important relationships in my life. So, I think I’m on the right track.

I’ve decided that instead of recapping highlights or pretending that you care about my favorite moments in this podcast, I’m going to pull back the curtain on the number one question that I get asked just about weekly from my clients and on sales calls: How do you create content that feels like you are talking directly to me?

You know the kind of podcast episodes, Instagram captions, or client stories that maybe you’ve heard on here that make you wonder if I am, as a client said to me the other day, wiretapping your brain? Well, in this episode, I’m going to show you exactly how I do it.

Because spoiler alert, yes I was a stylist before, so I do bring a lot of knowledge, understanding, and even a lot of sympathy and emotion to this conversation. But it is not magic. It is absolutely strategy. But it may not be strategy in the way that you think of strategy. It’s not strategy in a manipulative way. It’s strategy paired with really being in love with your audience.

So, I’m just going to say at the start of everything I’m going to talk about, you’re not going to be able to do this if you don’t care about the people you work with. It is the prerequisite. It is something you can learn if you have that behind you, if you’re willing to stop hiding behind shallow content, which you may not think you’re doing. You may just be, like, “This is what I thought I was supposed to do,” which is fair, and start marketing like someone who really is invested in building a business for people that they care about and that they’re proud of.

Let’s dive into this whole conversation by talking about the truth about why people buy. There are only two reasons why people buy, and this is why sales psychology is so critical, and it’s infused in everything that I talk about. Fear or aspiration.

So, if you’re selling toothpaste or jeans or a blouse, you can absolutely play in both lanes, and you can still win financially. But if you’re selling transformational services like personal styling, or not just personal styling but hairstyling, you’re a makeup artist, you’re somebody that helps people with their fitness goals, this is where clients have to show up and actively participate to get results.

It’s not the same as just buying the toothpaste. Once that happens, the toothpaste company doesn’t really care. And so, because of that, the energy behind why somebody buys from you matters a hell of a lot more than if you were selling a commodity or a product.

So, if you lead with fear in your content, which I don’t think a lot of stylists do, to be honest, I think they lead with a lack of any perspective at all, but I do want to just explain these two different things, I don’t see this often, you’re going to attract clients who are running away from themselves.

You’re also going to get this if your content isn’t necessarily fear-based, but it is not speaking to anybody. So, it’s sort of you’re just showing your outfits. You’re just making it about you. You’re not explaining why it matters to your audience.

They're going to respond with fear, even if you're not fear-mongering to them, because they're desperate. They're coming from a place of fear. They're coming from a place of, “I just need something to work, and that looks good on you, so I'll wear it too.”

If you hear people telling you on your sales calls, "Well, I like your style," that's really a sign that you are attracting people who are coming to you from fear and not from a more curious, self-led place.

Again, it doesn't mean you are being fearful in your content. I don't want to insinuate that because, again, I don't see many stylists doing that. It's that that person is fearful. You haven't given them anything to know either way if they're a right fit for you or if they're the type of person who would be a good match. So their fear is leading them to think, "Well, her outfits look good. She's a stylist. I will do whatever she tells me." Not, "I will be a partner."

These are often the clients who seem fine on a sales call, and we're flattered by them, but then they ghost us, or they hate everything that we pick, or they question every choice. All of a sudden, they said they had fine body image, but now nothing is okay, including their collarbones. They're not really fully on board with the process to get the full transformation.

Even if they get to the outcome and they say it's fine, there's a part of you that's like, "I don't feel like that one’s so great." But if you lead with real aspiration, not the airbrushed aesthetic, everything-is-great-all-the-time, no-hair-out-of-place BS kind of marketing in the online space, that's not the aspiration I'm talking about, but if you really talk about what is possible for people, you're going to attract clients who are running towards something, not away from something.

They're running towards something better. They're running towards something future-focused. You'll notice when you get the client that I was talking about before, who's coming to you from a fear-based place, they talk a lot about the past. They talk a lot about when they used to be thin. They talk a lot about when people used to give them compliments, when their partner was attracted to them, when they could get anybody they wanted in the dating field.

You'll hear a lot about what used to be from clients that are fear-based, and that's another really great way for you to know where somebody is on their journey. When you're attracting clients who are coming to you from a place of aspiration, and when your marketing is speeding up that process of attracting them because you're speaking to the aspirations, you're going to notice that they talk about the future.

You're going to notice they're people that are very interested in self-development. They are the perfect transformational client. This way of talking in an aspirational way, which isn't cookie-cutter, it doesn't mean we don't talk about anything hard, obviously, is the foundation of every piece of content I've created over the last year, even if you don't realize it.

Because a lot of times, we think that aspiration is a curated Pinterest board-type behavior that is sanitized and doesn't have any humanity to it. We think of aspiration the way the fashion industry has given it to us. White people with their nuclear family, the perfect little kids, their picket fence, that is aspiration. But it's not aspiration for real humans. It's not.

Because first of all, it's boring AF. Obviously, not everybody's white or has a family or wants those things. Rightfully so. But more than that, what I see is that we've been taught a version of marketing in the online space that tells us that's what aspirational marketing is.

Stylists are specifically preyed on when it comes to this. Because even though many stylists say, "I believe in style and fashion," we're still looking at trends. We're still living in what's fresh. It's fun. We love that.

And because we're used to magazine culture, we're used to editorialized things, we really do have this idea that aspiration, no matter what price points your clients are playing in, either, if they can't afford the luxury price point, they want to approximate it. They want to dupe it kind of an idea. That's the problem. You cannot dupe this type of content.

In my programs, I call this type of content mindset-shifting content. It is not trendy. It's definitely not something you get off a $97 template pack you’ve got off Instagram stories with plug-and-play captions, but mindset-shifting content helps your audience replace outdated beliefs with a new way of thinking and, most importantly, a new way of seeing themselves.

This is the kind of shift that doesn’t just make people like you. In fact, it may take them a minute to like you. It makes them trust themselves enough to work with you and to be a partner in the styling experience, or in my case, business consulting experience.

Here’s the kicker. When you learn how to do this type of content, it won’t just transform your potential clients' lives or your current clients' lives. It will actually transform yours because it has transformed mine.

When you start attracting clients who feel like soulmates, clients who quote your podcast back to you on sales calls—not because you need to hear your own quotes back to you, because quite frankly, I don’t even remember most of them—but because you know that what you’ve put out into the world resonated with another, even just one other human being, you will build a business that fuels you.

It is no longer about getting people to buy. It is about resonating with people. It is the difference between feeling like you are running a business, or trying to run a business, and what feels like living your purpose, which is what most stylists got into the game for. But somewhere along the way, we lose it.

Now, if you’re listening to this and struggling with visibility or consistency, or you’re just falling out of love with your marketing, you may be thinking, "Honestly, this sounds really hard." And I’m not going to lie to you, it can be.

This is the kind of content you cannot phone in. You cannot copy and paste it from ChatGPT, though it can help you edit your episodes for sure, or regurgitate what everyone else is doing on Instagram.

It is not a checklist. It is a decision. A decision to get honest, to be strategic, and to be deeply aware of your ideal client. Because I’ve said it before here, and I’m going to say it a million more times, because it’s true, and sometimes we just need to hear things a lot, especially when behavior that doesn’t really work but is popular keeps popping up on our For You page or Instagram feed: Your clients don’t need more style tips. They need someone who gets them and can help them evolve.

That’s going to start, for some of you, with evolving how you talk to them. Because we’re not talking to them. We’re talking with them. If you’re worried or you know, or there’s a part of you that’s like, "Yeah, but that kind of content isn’t going to perform well on Instagram," pause. Ask yourself: Is your rent, your mortgage, or your next vacation paid with likes?

Because I have had months where I haven’t posted to my grid in three weeks, and I have still signed clients to the tune of $15,000.

Why? Because I have this podcast. I have the occasional Instagram story that makes somebody feel seen. When people feel seen, they convert. That’s the content that makes money. But more important than making money, that’s what makes it easier to wake up every day and do it again, despite the likes.

Most people who say something to me like, "Well, I don’t know, I’ve done things like that. I’ve shared my beliefs, nobody comments, nobody likes..." you’re asking your business to do something for you that isn’t its job to do, validate you.

And I want to present a world, and I want to share the world I live in, where my content doesn’t validate me. It validates my clients. I don’t care about my validation. I can get my validation somewhere else, and I want that for you. That’s what I’m talking about when I say aspiration.

Aspirational isn’t necessarily that I don’t point out uncomfortable truths. It’s that I point out the uncomfortable truth and then explain why you don’t have to sit in that discomfort anymore, because there’s something else. And I mean it. I’m not telling you this because I’m trying to get you to buy from me.

I’m telling you this because I actually practice all of the things I tell you to do. I’m doing either right now in this episode, or on my Instagram story, or somewhere else. That’s not gross if it comes from a place of knowing your ideal client. We’re not manipulating anyone. We’re talking about the things that matter to them.

It’s really hard to keep showing up in your business in a way that gets you excited when it’s just about likes. But when you start to do this, sure, your likes might go down a little, or people might lurk more, because most people liking your content aren’t buying. That’s not what high-end buyers do. They lurk until they trust you, and then they reach out. Period. That’s the psychology of high-end buyers.

This is why if you’re creating content without understanding psychology, of course, it’s all going to feel very confusing. Of course, you’re going to think likes are the most important thing. Because the truth is, this business—personal styling—is a privilege. Unfortunately, a lot of the folks who have led this industry haven’t acted like it in how they’ve trained stylists.

Stylists expect people, absolute strangers off the internet, to trust them with their image. That is really not a small ask. So yes, you’re going to need to think a complete thought and say something real. Not controversial, not cruel, not unkind, which is sometimes what people hear when I say honest or real. Just literally repeating the actual conversations you’re having with clients is what I mean.

I don’t mean being controversial for the sake of it. But you can’t skip that. You cannot skip the part where you talk like a real human to other real humans. So if you’re treating your content like a to-do list, of course, it’s not working.

But if you start using it to connect, and not just to broadcast, you can post less, you can make more, and you can finally stop spinning your wheels. Honestly, you can wake up every morning excited to get on the Zoom call or whatever. Some people still talk to clients on the phone, which shocks me, but you do you, boo, and enjoy your life like I do.

Just like your clients resist trying on new clothes that are outside their comfort zone, when you first try to do this, your brain is going to resist showing up in new ways too. Welcome to the club. But resistance doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It just means it’s new.

So let’s talk about where you find the type of content that allows you to create this magical type of high-converting, mindset-shifting messaging. This is literally the best news. You do not have to sit in front of your laptop with a blank stare and wait for divine inspiration to hit, like so many of the stylists I work with tell me they’re doing before we work together. Because mindset-shifting content is everywhere.

It’s everywhere. This is partially why it’s really important that you charge enough for your services, so you have the space to be present in your life. We tend to think about pricing in all these wonky ways of thinking. But if you can really put time into your content and bring your ideal client up to a certain level and a certain standard in their thinking, they are going to get more out of their work with you.

So if you think about your prices not just about what the time is you’re putting in front of the client once they hire you, but the time you’re putting into your marketing in order to make it good enough to convert them, nurture them, and help them see themselves differently before they hire you, you’re going to have a better client experience. They’re going to stay with you longer, and those prices become a little more understandable because you’ve put in so much work to help them see themselves differently.

So when we’re so worried about pricing but not thinking about whether we’re giving messaging the adequate time and thought it requires to call in the type of person who doesn’t question that price, we are misled. That’s why things will feel hard. So the good news is: This type of content will require you to have more space in your schedule, until you master it, but it’s in your DMs.

It’s in your sales calls. It’s in the texts clients send you when they’re spiraling over a bunch of online orders that didn’t work. It’s right here. Your job is to listen better. Which is why I said you have to slow down.

Which is why you’ve got to charge more. You have to shape those raw moments you experience as a stylist into reflections and reflect them back to your audience with care, with clarity, and with confidence.

But here is the catch. In order to do that, you can't just take it and then regurgitate it, you have to first stand for something. Like I said, you first have to care about that audience.

So if your content is trying to appeal to everyone, this isn't going to work because those specific examples in your DMs or on your sales calls or in your texts are not going to hit for anyone. Because the way you wrap them, the way that you reflect them back to your audience, the way that you shape them and present them won’t resonate because you're missing the foundation. You're missing saying, “This is who I serve and this is who I don't serve.” So then you're just shouting into a void, even if you do exactly what I just told you to do, like go into your DMs, listen to your sales calls back, or look at your client texts.

You can go and say, "Oh, I talked to a client, blah, blah, blah," but if you don’t shape it back to your audience and say, "And this person is XYZ, and they want an LMNOP, and this is the kind of person I help best," it won’t make a difference. If you don’t do it all the time, week in and week out, it’s going to fall flat. So I think that’s an important piece of context here because I don’t think people are honest about what it takes to get to the level where your content sells for you.

My content sells for me on my Instagram Grid right now, even if I haven’t posted anything this week. Because I create assets. I don’t create marketing. I create relationships. And that’s what I want for you because it’s now not about me sitting down and writing my marketing for the week, it’s literally how I think, it’s literally how I move.

Yes, I have the to-do list of recording this. It took me 25 minutes to complete this podcast from outlining it to writing the hooks and to doing all of that, and now I’m recording. Because it’s just so simple to me, and that’s what I want for you. I want it in your bones. I want it in your blood.

Because then you don’t have to worry about how busy your week is when you have a lot of clients, which you will if you do this. You’ll just be able to sit down and do what you gotta do because you already have that foundation. So if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “How is she in my head? How does she create podcasts that feel like she knows what I’m going through, even if I’ve never talked to her?”—which is what someone said to me the other day, I’m in your head because I’m listening to you.

I’m listening to stylists just like you. Every sales call, every comment on my Instagram, every coaching session, I am listening to you. I am reflecting after those calls. I am thinking about you sometimes before I fall asleep because I’m so excited for what I know is going to come.

Then I do something that most people don’t. I take time in my day and I think about how to speak to you in a way that opens a door, that makes you feel less alone, that makes you feel ready to take the next step. Not because I’m so great or because I have superhero-like marketing ability, but because I remember what it felt like to be where you are. I lived there for seven years.

I have lived there some days. If you’re a stylist that’s established and doing well, I still have days where I feel like you probably do. I don’t forget or sanitize how I got here. I think that’s important when we think about coaching, consulting, or people we trust.

Because I said to a client yesterday on a group call, she said, "Well, what do you do with your marketing? How do you plan your marketing?" I said, “I don’t want to tell you how I plan my marketing because you could wake me out of a dead sleep and I could write a post right now that could convert.” Again, not because I’m so great, but because I spend so much time thinking about my ideal client. And you guys just tried to figure out who your niche was two weeks ago.

So what I do in my schedule shouldn’t be what my clients do. But it should be what they aspire to because it makes your life so much easier. But in order to get there, you gotta do the hard work of making the decision to be for someone.

And stylists think that the hard work is like being perfect or getting it right. I don’t get it right a lot on this podcast. Someone knock out of the park someone like, “Oh, that wasn’t that great.” But it’s not about that.

It's about the fact that I'm showing up every week. And that I'm talking about the things that this community cares about and that I care about for them in the life that I want for them. You can have this. Absolutely, you can have this.

There's no reason why you can't have people saying, “How are you in my head? I feel like you know me. I trust you.” You want to build a six-figure, multi-six-figure business? Cool. You're going to need more than pretty visuals. If you can’t make a carousel, you're not going to be able to outsource this part. You're going to need to do this part. You can outsource the carousel on Canva though, please do.

The ability to create content that gets into the psyche of the person that you most want to work with, that would make your business feel like a dream every day, that says, “I see you. I understand you. Let's do something about where you are and where you want to go,” is completely in your control.

So here's to a year of doing exactly that together, week after week, with this podcast. Here's to you if you are ready to start taking the steps to kind of ditch this shallow version of aspiration online in what people call aspirational marketing, particularly in our field. Here's to you calling in what you actually want to offer, to being able to use your words and your marketing to build the world for yourself and for your clients.

Where a woman or a man showing up the way that they want to visually is such an act of rebellion and creativity and self-expression that they don’t hesitate for a moment because your marketing has showed them ways to think about that, ways to behave like that before they're ready, and ways to embody the person that they're not yet before they ever hire you. Here's to you standing for something beyond your business, in creating a movement of people that believe in style the way that you do.

So if you started your business with small aspirations to just make this or just make that amount of money, this is your invitation to stop that language in your head. You are capable of so much more. People need so much more, especially right now in the kind of world that we live in. It's not amazing right now out there, in case you haven't noticed.

People who use their style as the deepest reflection of their humanity are people who are really up to stuff in the world. You get to be a part of that right now. This is the type of marketing that does it. So are you going to come with me? Are you going to do this? Or what? Because I'm just getting started, and I think you are too.

So thank you for being here this year with me. Thank you for being a part of this movement of stylists who are here for people being bigger. I'll talk to you next episode.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me. It turns out that social proof is actually pretty important. So if you could help me out, I'd so appreciate it. If you just had a quick free moment and could leave me a rating or review on the podcast app, that would be killer. And even better, if you wanted to share this episode on Instagram and tag me, that would totally make my day and it would bring so much more awareness to the podcast and would help other stylists just like you who are looking to build lucrative styling business because the better each of us does, the better all of us do. Thanks for hanging out with me and I'll chat with you next time.